Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-09-11
THE OLD SETTLER.
LITTLE PELEG harms WHAT THE WILD
WAVES SAY.
His Grsnd-POp Tells Him, Bgosh Imighty, but He
Won't LiSten-What the Wild Waves
Said the Ninth Of April
in %.
Ed Not ia Nelp York San.

chair. "GrandpOp," said he, what are
the wild waves saying?"
The old settler looked up from the
pages OF the local paper in which he was
reading an account of hog-guessing match
that had come off over at the Corners. He
scowled over his spectacles at Peleg, who
fitted the clOtbespin carefully on his nose
and closed his mouth to see how long he
could hold his breath.
81 hain't heerd no wild waves yellln'
anything very loud lately, ez knows on, "
said the Old Settler. (Which wild waves
is it th't-M'riar! Whack that young 'un
on the back or he'll bust ev'ry durn giz-
zard he's got"
Peleg had hung on to his breath until
his eyes began to bulge out, and his face
was as red as his grandfather's nose. He
succumbed- to the inevitable before his
grandfather could give him the whaek. He
opened his mouth and started his lungs to
working again, but left the clothespin on
his nose. His grandfather glared at him
| for a moment and then said:
witch wild waves is it th't yer speakin'
Off"
/ L ucD lHdl anu lO<AAo ANU SOANJ -
Ilud," replied Peleg, his utterance stopped
BY the pressure of the clothespin on his
nose.
The Old Settler reached for his cane.
"Pelegr' exclaimed his grandmother,
take that clOthespin often yer nose! Ye
gimme Il cold in the head TO hear ye! What
was We meanin' ter say?"
Peleg removed the clothespin and re-
peated his remark Them that rips and
IOars around CoDey's Island; that's what |
said What are they saying, grandpOp?'
Conveys Island" exclaimed the Old
Settler. "W'at in Sam Hill do You know
bout COney's Island, or bout any wild
waves ez mowt or az mOwtn't be rippin'
an roarin'?"
''The new school ma'am from town
boards to Bill Simmons" replied Peleg,
| land t'Other night she was telling us about
/ Coney's Island. She's been there lots, and
she told us that she could set on the bank
down there and listen to what the wild
waves was saying all day long. asked
her what they was saying, and she said,
! oh! much, little boy She didn't say
how much or what it was, and l asked Bill
Simmons if he knOwed, and he said he did,
but wasn't giving it away. Go ask yer
grandpop, Bill said. If he can't tell you,
says Bill, the worlds coming to an end
That's how come to ask you, grandpOp.
Cant YOU tell me ~
eyes, b'gOsh' kin" exclaimed the Old
Settler, shaking his fist in the direction Of
the Simmons homestead. 81 kin tell We!
Them wild waves is a sayin' an they're a
| - - yN'S lin ha hpprn from
Conveys Island to shutdown, th't the bes'
thing you can DO is to keep shet O. that
Bill Simmons, or thai shingle out thar in
the yard that'll make the properest kind
of a paddle, an if that paddle is made an
used you'll hef 10 stan up for more a
week wen ye eat yer slap:jacks an
'lasSes That's wat them wild waves is
sayiu', Peleg, an its very poor OF gram
pop th't tellin' We so, b'gosht'lmighty, an
We won't listenw
Peleg sat down by the side of the splint.
bottom rocking chair. He said nothing,
but thought to himself, rs he toyed with
the clothespiu, that if the wild waves had
said all that TO the schoolma'am she must
have been more than pleased at their re-
marks about the paddle and the slap jacks.
The Old Settler picked up his paper again
Peley's grandmother took her knitting and
went off to the "settin'" room, and his
grandfather, after finishing the account of
the hog guessing-which stated that Pete
Hellriggle had won the hog-and remark
ING that if Pete didn't trade the hog off for
a bar'l o. cider the winnin' of it'd he a
lucky thing for his family, ez they'd ben
browsin' on sassyfrax all winter, he turned
TO Peleg and said:
"Yes, my son, that's wat them wild
waves is sayin', an ez yer gran nanny
haiu't in hearin' to git worried at our talk
in. I'll tell We wat some wild waves done
to me wunst Them waves didn't say
nOthin', but they jist got up an done.
This happened wen / were boy, cOnsid'
able many year ago. 'Twere on the ninth
day OF April, 1922, in the afternoon
were list comm seven year old. Their
had hen a big rain fer two or three days,
an knOw'd th't SlOplick creek must be
list right fer smoker fishin', an so sneaked
my pap's chestnut pole an hoSshair line
Outen the barn an cut crOsslOts fer the big
bend o. the creek, witch were jist over a
raise o. ground from our cabin in the clear
in, mehbe four or five rod away, but ont
O. sight, 'cOuse twas in the gulley, twenty
five foot lower the clearin'. An speakin'
o. sucker fishin', sonny, yell see, tore
git through with this leetle aDecdOte, th't
tn was suckers in the creeks in them
days Tn hanint none in 'em now, but
thur q many O. one Guten the creeks, an
big un's, too. Wall, wen come in sight
o. whar oil, SlOpliCk otter been jist more
thin billing, OWN to the hard rains,
almost tumbled back in faintin' fit Tn
want TO Sloplik thar! The bed o. the
creek were dryer'n q salt herTin'l Ez fur
ez | could see down the creek, picked
chicken couldn't hin no barer then them
rocks on the bottom was. The creek bad
fall o. more'n twenty foot to the mile,
an even in low water went down 10y thar,
on it's way TO the river three miles below,
. like peeled hemlock log down a roll way,
and thar she war, arter all them rains,
dry an empty from bank to hank. Peleg,
| were skeert, and / tuck TO tremblin'
wuss thin a hungry dog at daylight on 2
. frosty mOrnin'. l thOrt the world were
: comm to an end right thar an then.
!. Poorly soon got stiddy enough to look ~
|, the creek, an then ! were skeeTt wuss'n
! ever, fer bout Vuarter OF niue
/ away, in that direction, thar were the creek
4 agoin' IN stream ez fast cz in could tear
Il Con right up that big grade O. twenty
It Feet to the mile, .Pclsg hk a train o
l. Aeers! Wen see that lis. flOOped right
: dSyn an waited for the 'arthquake en-
Is Ga'rel TO come fOllerin' along, acrackin'
N an tOOtin,. laid thar awhile, but they
: didn, neither on them come, an the creek
re KEEP atimbin' up to'srds its headwaters Zif
IT. be sent fer to cum back hum an
hson't - tiaae to snare gittin' thar. II
wen NOM back ards IN n mood mO.e;n
thrt foo high, ez nigh e. could jedgt
n from seein' he gable eend of it, and poorly
le soon lnOhce th't tn were heay o COM
d motion on the dye of it.
"a wall saSs ! TO myself, gittIn' up
- onter my feet, TIL can't To nOtlin' "a
- hurt afeller in a1Ood this doin' It's best
= to run lway from ,im like that says 7,
o. an so NgueSs Pll,uit waitin' fer Gabriel